China's 9/11: Tiananmen Square Massacre

In our previous discussion Chinese intellectual Min Luo told me of his upbringing during the Cultural Revolution, when his father was accused of walking the capitalist road, and the entire family was sent into the countryside. Despite this, Min kept up with his education, and--when the colleges were re-opened at the end of the Revolution--Min was accepted at one of the top ones. (See Interview One.) Later, the government sponsored him to further his studies in the U.S. He has been in the U.S. since 1987, but travels frequently to China--sometimes nine times a year. (See Interview Two.)
When we left off, I had asked Min about the changes he'd seen in China over the years. He started by talking about the changes China experienced in the mid-80’s.

“At that time people were all thinking about how to make money to improve their living style. But then corruption started, and people want Democracy, as they knew how the western countries were operated. That’s why June 4th happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989. People wanted to improve their living style, and they hope to have more freedom as the western countries, and of course less corruption.”

(The date "June 4th" is etched in the Chinese memory—for those old enough to have lived through 1989. For many it is equivalent to America's "September 11," in that it evokes similar feelings of shock, disbelief, grief. From most sources outside of China--including the informational People's Republic of Amnesia by Louisa Lim-- on June 4th, hundreds of thousands of mostly students gathered in the government square of Tiananmen to protest, asking for further Democratic freedoms.

photo courtesy world.mic

                                                    They erected a Statue of Freedom in the middle of the square. 

photo courtesy of Shelley Zang via chinagirls.wordpress.com

Leader Deng Xiao Ping branded the students “counter-revolutionaries,” and called in troops to force the students to disperse. When loudspeaker warnings went unheeded, soldiers drove through the square in their tanks.

photo courtesy of Jeff Widener/Associated Press

The tanks drove over students, shooting and killing anywhere from between 241 people--China’s official number--to the 2,600 that was reported by the International Red Cross.)

Min’s explanation that corruption, and anger over corruption, had caused the demonstrating didn’t
make sense to me. If corruption alone was the issue, I would think there would be daily protests in China. Perhaps I had not understood. I asked again.
“People started to see what is going on outside of the world,” Min explained. “And they felt the Democracy is the key to have a better life, but without a deep understanding what is Democracy and what condition will make the Democracy successfully implemented in China. The movement was led by the students, and they are more emotional and less understanding of the history and social system.”

I asked Min where he was on June 4^th and what he had heard about the incident.

“I was in US. We got all the news from the U.S. There was lots of news. We heard the story from the U.S. side.”
Hmm. Okay.
(…to be continued. Next: Nobody Can Compete With China.)